The on-line museum of North America's independent department stores. The museum holds all sorts of information about classic department stores which either no longer exist, or are changed beyond recognition. A few of them are still with us, and provide an interesting connection to North America's retail past. The others are presented so that they may be properly remembered as a tangible part of the lives of their customers, shopping destinations where memories were often made.

John Wanamaker, New York

The John Wanamaker store was builtin 1906 as an annex to the old A.T.Stewart store to the north which Wana-maker had acquired.

A view of the Wanamaker store from Astor Place re-veals the Renaissance palazzo-like design of the storeby architect Daniel Burnham, who was also responsiblefor the Philadelphia Wanamaker store.

"Let those who follow me continue tobuild with the plumb of honor, thelevel of truth, and the square of integrity,education, courtesy and mutuality."

35 comments:

After I graduated from business school at Wharton (U of P), I was hired on by John Wanamaker as an Expediter for Women's Shoes. A total grunt job! At that time Wanamaker's had been purchased by Carter Hawley Hale. CHH updated some JW stores including the downtown store in Center City Philadelphia and eventually acquired Neimans, Berdorf's, Emporium Capwell, and some others. At that time, the first floor of Wanamaker's Center City housed international boutiques as well as other prominent design houses on other floors. Cartier and Sulka come immediately to mind. Well, I was not at all loving my job, however, this is when I became obsessed with department stores. I resigned from JW but I learned so much about what I wanted my career to be and what I did not want my career to be. I went back home to Manhattan to my parent's home and eventually figured out what my profession was to be...a career in product design & development. After working for Wanamaker's, I found myself spending time walking around department stores. Always amazed. B. Altman & Co., Lord & Taylor, Saks, Gimbels, Hecht's, Strawbridge & Clothier, Stern's, A&S, Bonwit's. Not just the the main stores, but I would take the train to the suburban stores. I observed the risky expansion of the MALL stores. These nes stores never captured the essence of the original main or free-standing properties. I remember the as a college student , my family travelled to Texas to visit cousins in Houston. My mother and my aunt and cousins went shopping while my father and uncle were out (golfing I guess). We went to the Sakowitz store and my mother bought me 2 cashmere jackets; navy and camel. I still wear these today (luckily my body has not changed much in 20 years). Later, when I finally had a career, I found myself travelling between D.C. and New York. Of course, I would find every excuse to visit the true suburban stores...Hecht's in Maryland, Strawbridges in Ardmore, Wanamaker's in Wynnewood and Wilmington, Lord & Taylor in Bala Cynwyd and Manhassett and Garden City (Bala is my favorite and it's still there!, B. Altman in St. Davids & Short Hills.

It sucks tha Macy's has bought all of these stores that haven't just gone away. I miss the hand written sales check at Saks in Garden City, my old dark green Lord & Taylor credit card my parent's co-signed for me when I was in college...no magnetic swipe! And last, but not least, Bonwits...small men's department but just grand. We only have Bergdorf's left (the store in Westchester was frightening). If only Macy's kept the old names and spirit!

I remember as a small child going to the Cross County Center in Younkers NY and shopping at John Wanamaker. Soon after we moved, but my Mom always spoke fondly of her shopping experience at Wanamaker's. I guess we never got to Philadelphia (but of course that is gone today also).

JW WAS MY STORE AT CROSS COUNTY -YONKERS NY - WAS THE STORE I MISS - SO CLOSE TO HOME - I BOUGHT MY MATTRESS SET- BEDDING - CLOTHING - ETC-- WALKING 5TH AVE - I REMEMBER THE DAY I SET OUT TO BUY A CALVIN KLIEN LEATHER BOMBER JACKET-I STARTED AT 59TH ST - BERGDORFS-BONWITS - BENDELS--LORD AND TAYLOR - B. ALTMAN- BARNEYS AT 17TH- IT WAS SFA - THEY HAD JUST THE ONE I WANTED-I WORKED A BLOCK FROM BLOOMINGDALES - I SPENT MANY LUNCH BREAKS A BLOOMIES -LUNCH ON THE 7TH FLOOR - I MISS MOST OF THE LONG GONE STORES - I AM SUCH A CYBER SHOPPER - THX FOR THE MEMORIES

I have a dim memory of going to Wanamaker's in New York City with my mother. According to my older sister my memories are correct: bare wooden floorboards, tall supporting columns, crowds, wooden staircases, old elevators. Interestingly I have in storage twin bed comforters, watered satin shells stuffed with goose down, labeled "John Wanamaker New York". Mom bought them in 1952 and after sixty years of use they're like new.

I am a native Philadelphian and grew up in/around John Wanamaker (we NEVER called it "Wanamaker's - my father might say "John Wahn" or my grandfather would call it "Cousin John's" - my grandmother shopped there so often it was as though it was the family grocery). Around 1979-81 (not sure exactly) I was in NYC on business and was at the World Trade Center - upon exiting the towers I spotted a window sign on the 2nd floor of a building on Liberty St - the JW logo and "Liberty Street Store". So, with my JW charge card in my pocket, I crossed the street to check out this curiosity.

I entered the building lobby and went up an escalator - sure enough, it was a miniature John Wanamaker, but old-style and cramped. The staff looked as though they'd been working there fore some time. I think I bought a short and some after shave, and wanted to pay for it with my JW charge. This created a raised eyebrow, and I noticed they were not using the Singer POS terminals that had been installed in Philadelphia. The clerk took the card to the back, and after a few minutes returned with a sales slip for me to sign. The goods went into a regular JW bag and I was on my way. At this time, CHH had bought the chain and was investing heavily to update the Philadelphia store.

When I returned home, I spoke with a cousin who worked in the JW corporate pension office in Center City. I told her of my experience and she replied "that store's not ours". Apparently - IIRC - when CHH bought the chain, they didn't take the Liberty Street Store and it remained part of the Rodman Wanamaker estate. They had a mutual billing/buying/licensing agreement with CHH but the shop wasn't part of the Philadelphia operation.

A few weeks later, when my charge statement arrived, the transaction was shown as "Other JW Store" - no department number and no merchandise description. Made me think it was entered manually.

Does anyone know anything more about the origins or history of this strange little Philadelphia outpost in the financial district? And what relationship it might have had to the Philadelphia or New York store? The store continued to operate for quite some time, I recall.

John Wanamaker had some interesting twists and turns in it's operations and the Liberty Street Shop was one of them. After Wanamaker's closed it's Manhattan flagship in the mid 1950's it continued to operate the Liberty Street Shop, and a large branch at the Cross County Center. The small branch on Long Island was sold to Gertz.

Carter Hawley Hale (CHH) first approached the Wanamaker family about buying the chain in 1976 and they closed the deal in 1978. There was a small, but vocal, faction of the family that did not want the sale to go through, and as a compromise the "family" would continue to own the Liberty Street Shop. Under this deal, Wanamaker's managed the store, deducted it's costs, and then turned over the net proceeds to the Wanamaker Family Trust.

In the mid-1980's, CHH needed to raise cash fast, and put Wanamaker's up for sale. Once again some members of the Wanamaker family objected (as they would loose their Libery Street piggy bank).A settlement was reached, Wananaker's was sold to Al Taubman, and the Liberty Street Shop closed shortly after.

Another "twist" in Wanamaker history was The Globe Store in Scanton, another topic for another day.

When I was growing up, my father Peter Katsafouros worked in the Wanamaker building after it had been converted to office space. I spent many saturdays waiting for my ambitious father to finish up his work so that we could meet my sister and mother for dinner. Another employee asked me if I saw the Museum? He took me upstairs to a place where the wireless operator had sat the night of the Titanic's sinking and received the true message about her fate while much of the world believed the ship was being rescued. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized the importance of the place and that date. The following day, Marconi stock soared on the New York Exchange. The information age was born.

While working at Kmart corporation (1995) as an architect in their design division, I was responsible for the design of the Kmart store in this building. We found a beautiful plaster fan column on the second floor where the store was to have a cafe. I suggesetd restoing and re-lighting it. Only half remained, and it was ringed with incandescent lights which were all broken. Of course, the management said no, it would be "impossible to design a cafe around a pole." At the time we had a new CEO and when he saw it, made the same suggestion, and of course, I was told to get it done!

At least a bit of Wanamaker's got saved there. I always wondered what was in that location in the past and if the whole building was embellished with details like that, it must have been something!

When I went to the grand opening, I was unhappy to leave my wife of a little over a year at home; I felt a little uncomfortable about it and was happy to ride in the hotel elevator with a woman who had a name tag on with the same first name, spelled like she did. A month later she passed away suddenly. Every time I think about that store I remember the happy days before that happened.

I worked for JW in the early 70's in the Reading, PA branch. The Westchester store in Yonkers was a branch of the JW Philadelphia store. Liberty St. was not. Liberty St. was owned by friends of the Wananaker family; I can't remember their name. They paid for the right to use the name, logo, etc.

my grandmother was a salesgirl at Wanamaker's Philadelphia store in 1910 thru 1912. First displaying ladies dress fabrics for "ritzy dames" as she put it and finally in ladies gloves. She told me it was a beautiful store with live music played on the mezzanine. The store opened each day with young men with horn like instruments to welcome customers at the entrance. I have beautiful pictures of my grandmother in those years and her John Wanamaker calling card in a frame. She told me when the Titanic went down in 1912, all the newsboys were yelling the headlines outside the store selling papers. I'm 79 now and the memories I have from her stories to me would fill a book.

Hello, I'm a retired Philadelphia Police Officer. I loved the John Wanamaker store in center city philadelphia. My mom would take us to see the Christmas light show every year. It was beautiful. I have some pictures of it. When my daughter was born in 1980 I would bring her to the Christmas show. In the toy department I forget what floor there was a mono rail train than ran around the toy dept. my daughter loved it. I also have pictures of that. We would have lunch upstairs in the Tea Room , also great dinners there too. There was a sales lady in the designer dept,. Her name was Yonna Demp. What a terrific sales lady !! I could go on and on. I miss the store so much !!!

From your comment, you write very well - Why don't you consider "filling a book?" It would be a blessing to future generations whom, I fear, won't have a clue what lives like yours were like. It could be self-published (Amazon) or I'd be happy to recommend you to The History Press.-Bruce (bakgraphics@comcast.net)

Every Easter my mom went and purchase all 3 of us kids a Wanamaker chocolate coconut cream Easter egg for our baskets. I still remember how creamy they where and how yummy, I still to this day don't know if it was for us or her. Any one that came in to town a relative, family or friends we went downtown and met them at the eagle. The Christmas display was out of this world the lights the tree the dancing fountains and the music I like this is why this day I love Christmas decorations. When it came back to school it was always a trip to Jenkintown to buy our school clothes. don

I have found among some old coins a coin that looks like a penny but is a silver anniversary of the John Wanamaker 13th st. store 1876 to 1901 it is bronze in color..has anyone of the family ever seen such a piece?? My very first charge card was fm John Wanamakers, my mother had one and I loved the NY store it was so grand..so sorry to hear they are all closed or renamed something else..

there is this movie.. not a very good movie, but watchable, from 1987 called "Mannequin" The whole silly film takes place in a store called "prince & Co"

It was filmed in Wanamaker's which was still owned by CHH at the time. The movie takes place during "Prince & Co" 100th birthday also coinciding to Wanamaker's 125th. In a ironic twist, the Wanamaker's board were shown the film before release which has a sub-story of the movie's store being threatened by hostile takeover. The board found this amusing and are quoted as jesting about how preposterous the idea was being that it was filmed in such a stable place.

A few months after release, Wanamaker's was put up for sell.. the rest is history

Has anyone heard that the New York City John Wanamaker store sponsored an art and design contest for middle school-aged students? I believe that the prize was tuition for a local pre-college art program at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts (now Parsons School of Design).

My great grandmother, Caroline (Knight?) and great grandfather, James Wilson, worked for the Wanamakers in the 1880's in Philadelphia as personal employees. They met while working on the Wanamaker estates. I'm not sure if they worked at the Wanamaker home in Philadelphia or the larger country estate outside of Philadelphia. Caroline worked as an upstairs maid and James was the coachman. Both were emigrants from Ireland. Great grandmother Caroline came to America as an indentured servant. She met great grandfather James while working at the Wanamaker estates. According to family lore, the Wanamaker's were very strict about fraternization between employees and forbade courting. However, at night Caroline would climb down a tree which had branches near her bedroom window to meet James who was waiting at the tree. James became a US citizen in 1887. My grandfather was born in Philadelphia in 1889 or 1890. The Wilson family moved to Kansas in the late 1890's and settled near Carlton, Kansas, south of Abilene, Kansas. They were ranchers and farmers.

Hey there, Did you know Wanamaker sent out his photographer Joseph Dixon on an expedition to take photographs of American Indians in the early 1900s? My husband and I are in the process of putting together a second showing of our exhibition https://stirringthepotexhibit.wordpress.com/ Check out some of the photos and the history of the project.

I'm a Philly native with many memories of the J.W. store as well as the other great department stores back in the '50s and 60's. I have in my Possession a fascinating book "Golden Book of Wanamaker Stories" published in 1911 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Wanamaker enterprise. It contains tinted photos of rooms in both the Philadelphia and New York stores. I had hoped to get an updated version on the 100th anniversary in 1961 but I don't think such a book was ever written. Did such a book exist? Has anyone ever digitized the 1911 book?Regards to all who may be interested Dennis Kaliser

Today is "Marconi Day" (April 22), and for amateur radio licensees (hams) it is a day when amateur radio clubs near sites of former Marconi stations/sites set up their radios "on site". As the story goes, there was an administrative office of the Marconi Corp. on one of the floors of Wanamaker's Dept. Store in NYC. On the fateful day, the office was manned by a young man named "David Sarnoff" who was working late in order to receive the passenger list for the Titanic. He later received the news that the ship was sinking. Is there any record of where that office was in the store, and if there was a receiving antenna on the roof of Wanamaker's? In accounts of the Titanic's demise (April 15, 1912), it isn't quite clear if Sarnoff (later the president of RCA) actually received the message from the Titanic, or if it was simply relayed to him from a receiving site on Long Island. These were the days of Very Low Frequency radio transmission, which required large (long wire) antennas, so it seems doubtful to me that he was actually "at the key". But, the building was huge -- maybe there was a receiving facility, and perhaps a transmitting facility using a lengthy rooftop antenna.

I was a little girl in the early 1940's and my Mother and my Aunt took me to Wanamakers to see Santa Claus. We waited in a long line on a beautiful spiral staircase. Santa was perfect - dressed in red velvet with a gorgeous snowy white beard. All the little girls were given small wooden rolling pins! Can you imagine actually giving rolling pins to little girls? It was another time and I'd gladly go back!

At this moment I am writing two books on the life and work of Rene Lalique who also made two glass panels for Wanamaker's men's Store. The first etched panel was set by ship and arrived broken in the wooden boxing. The second was placed in the Men's Store of Wanamaker's in 1932. I havethe complete records of the court proces where Lalique had to show up to testify etc. It has been a long proces with lawyers etc. These trials were about the insurrance companies who didn't want to pay the damage caused by the transport. Eventually the broken panel was compensated but not installed. I got to learn this broken panel is still somewhere in one of the Wanamaker's depots. Is that correct? Can someone tell me. And is the installed glass panel lalique made still in place at Wanamaker's and where? Our email is: info@musee-lalique.nl Greetings, Benjamin Mordehai Janssens (curator) Lalique Museum Netherlands

My mother always took us to Wanamaker's in Phily around Christmas time. It was the late '60s/early '70s. We wore white gloves and mary janes! I remember the 8th (?) floor would be a winter wonderland with animated displays and 'snow.' This was the line leading up to Santa. Afterward, there was a little cottage where only children could enter. Inside, you could purchase small gifts for your parents so they would be surprised. Mostly in the fifty cent to five dollar range, I believe. I have a vague memory of one of the themed shopping bags one year featuring a family made of tools and hardware. No one in my family will corroborate this. I'm hoping someone out there remembers it?

I was just telling a friend last evening about the North Pole Cottage at the Cross County Wanamaker's. An Elf would come out, collect the slip from the parents and take you in to shop. There was tables laid out with gifts from Mom, Dad, Sisters, Brothers, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles. They would gift wrap everything, put little cards on them and bring the child back out. This was in the 70's I have a vague memory of the shopping bag your talking about also.. of course the iconic signature bag as well

I began working for John Wanamaker's in 1972. The store sold everything from notions to pianos. It had a Monorail on the 8th floor and the fabulous Christmas Light show. There was the annual Easter Brunch in the Crystal Room and Wanamaker ice cream at the Dairy in the basement. In the early eighties, I remember feeling sadness as we gathered around the Eagle and watched the symbolic passing of the keys to Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc. We knew things would never be the same again. That sense of family was gone. It was the end of an era.

I recently bought genuine mahogany beds from a thrift store with the label of “John Wanamaker Westchester, Cross County Center, Yonkers NY. “ Being in SC , I was curious as to what type of person or place this was. The prior posts have enlightened me. I seem to own a piece of history . Beautiful stories.

I came across this during time at home due to covid! Reminiscing and checking some people and places that are part of my past! How I remember John Wanamakers that was in the Cross County shopping center in Yonkers, N.Y. I grew up in that area and my mom and aunt LOVED to shop that store in the late 60"s and 70's especially during the holidays!! I remember the main entry way so well! Sweet memories of days gone by..............

About Me

Born in 1958 into an American family with deep Polish roots, I was encouraged at an early age to take education wherever I could get it. I was taken across the country as a child, by my first-generation American parents, to see the wonders of our continent, and several World's Fairs which my parents felt would be educational and fun for our family. All of these things have affected my life in so many ways since then. I achieved a couple of degrees in architecture, and attained licensure in 1990. My specialty in the field is creative design, for which I have received a number of awards and accolades. I am happily married for the second time. I experienced the sadness and pain of being a widower after my first wife passed away suddenly in 1996. I would not be telling the truth if I did not mention how central my Roman Catholic faith was in negotiating such a difficult time. It still is, in fact. I work for Fieldstone A&E and, my free time is spent, learning, researching, writing, cooking, traveling, taking photographs, ballroom dancing, and enjoying my relationship with my wife and family with whom I am extraordinarily close.